Texans’ steady defense needs more help

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The embarrassing 30-9 loss at Baltimore reflected poorly on the team, including a defense that allowed only one touchdown. But it was a wretched performance by the offense and punt coverage team that caused the lopsided defeat.

It’s going to take a gargantuan effort by Wade Phillips’ defense and a drastically improved performance by the offense and coverage teams to defeat unbeaten Seattle at Reliant Stadium on Sunday.

The Seahawks rank first in defense and pass defense. Guess who’s second in both statistics. If you guessed the Texans, go to the head of the class.

The Texans have been playing terrific defense since early in the third quarter of the opening victory at San Diego. Since the Chargers scored for
the last time to take a 28-7 lead, the defense has allowed only three touchdowns.

Although the defense committed 10 of the Texans’ 14 penalties, it’s difficult to imagine it playing better than it did at Baltimore. The Texans surrendered only 236 yards in free safety Ed Reed’s first start.

The Ravens scored on running back Bernard Pierce’s 1-yard run. Take away that 80-yard drive in the third quarter, and the Ravens had 156 yards.

That kind of dominance should have been enough to prevent a 21-point loss, but the defense didn’t get any help.

The Texans are allowing 249 yards a game — 157.7 passing and 91.3 rushing. But there’s one thing the defense isn’t doing, and after the game, every defensive player interviewed brought it up — creating turnovers.

The Texans have forced only one turnover in three games — inside linebacker Brian Cushing’s interception return for a touchdown at San Diego. No defensive back has an interception. Nobody has recovered a fumble.

The lack of turnovers by the defense is magnified by quarterback Matt Schaub’s four interceptions, including two returned for touchdowns in the last two games.

“We’re doing a poor job of protecting the ball, and we’re not getting turnovers, either,” coach Gary Kubiak said Monday. “Those two go hand in hand.

“As a team, we’re losing that battle, which we were very good at last year. We’re off to a very slow start this year. That has to change.”

The Texans are minus-3 in turnover ratio. Last season, they were plus-12, tied for seventh best in the NFL.

The Seattle game would be a good time to rectify the problem. Not only does the defense have to contain quarterback Russell Wilson and running back Marshawn Lynch, it’s got to avoid the kinds of penalties that plagued the Texans against the Ravens.

Seven defensive players were whistled for penalties, including Cushing, cornerback Kareem Jackson and linebacker Brooks Reed two times each.

“Snap-count wise, they got us four or five times,” Kubiak said. “All we can do is continue to work on that. Hard-count our players in practice. We had a taunting call (on cornerback Johnathan Joseph), which we can’t have on a third-down stop. We had a couple of (pass interference) calls (on Jackson).

“We (tied) a franchise record for penalties. When you do that and turn the ball over, you’re not going to win, especially on the road against a real good team. It’s obviously a very disappointing situation, something we addressed today. We’ve got to go get that corrected this week. That just can’t happen.”

If the Texans don’t get the penalties — not to mention the interceptions — corrected by Sunday, they’re going to get humiliated again. And this time, it’ll be by the Seahawks, the best team in the NFC and a genuine Super Bowl contender.